


Carmilla Prompt Haven

by pleasanthell



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: F/F, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-09
Updated: 2014-11-14
Packaged: 2018-02-20 12:48:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 13,552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2429405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pleasanthell/pseuds/pleasanthell
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of prompt fills from my tumblr</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. CARMILLA TEACHING LAURA GERMAN WITH KISSES AS REWARDS

“Thank you,” Carmilla looked down at Laura who was laying on the bed with her head in Carmilla’s lap.

“Danke,” Laura recited, looking through a magazine.

Carmilla picked up part of a cookie out of the container. Laura opened her mouth and Carmilla dropped it in with an amused smile. “Pleased to meet you.”

Laura paused, taking her eyes away from the magazine to remember and then stated, “Sehr erfreut.”

Carmilla reached for another cookie and found her hand meeting plastic. “Looks like we’re out of cookies.”

Laura smiled up at Carmilla, “I’ll take kisses.”

Carmilla rolled her eyes at such a cheesy line, but couldn’t help complying. She leaned down and kissed Laura. The blonde grinned triumphantly, but asked, “You call that a kiss?”

“Well it wasn’t a hard translation,” Carmilla stroked Laura’s hair away from her face.

“Well give me a hard one,” Laura stated. Then she giggled when she realized what she said.

Carmilla just rolled her eyes. She thought it over and looked down at Laura, “Ich liebe dich.”

Laura furrowed her eyebrows and searched her brain. She wasn’t sure that Carmilla had told her what that meant yet, but she did know a handful of words so maybe she could pick out what it meant. “So ‘ich’ means I and ‘dich’ means you…” Laura bit her lip. She looked up at Carmilla, “Doesn’t liebe mean live?”

Carmilla shook her head, “Nope. Lebe means live.”

“Okay so,” the blonde looked at the ceiling. She could see Carmilla start to open her mouth so she waved her off, “Don’t tell me.”

Carmilla huffed, “Since you’re going to sit here until you osmosis German, I’m going to get a drink.” She scooted out from behind Laura and went to the fridge.

Laura picked up her phone and looked up what the word meant on the internet. She just stared at it for a moment and then suddenly turned toward Carmilla. Carmilla was mid drink when Laura jumped off of her bed and shuffled toward her.

Carmilla put her cup down and smiled, “Figure it out?”

“Ich liebe you too,” Laura put her hands on Carmilla’s cheeks. She went in for a kiss, but stopped short. “What were you just drinking?”

“Orange juice,” Carmilla quirked an eyebrow.

Laura went in for a kiss and then pulled back, keeping her hold on Carmilla, “I may love you, but I’m not ready for blood kisses.”


	2. carmilla having a nightmare about being trapped in the coffin and Laura is doing homework and sees what happens and comforts her

 Laura was way behind in her school work and had one weekend to catch up. It was nearing eight in the morning on Saturday and she was halfway through everything. Carmilla had come in two hours ago and crashed onto her bed without a word.

Laura was fine with it. At least there would be no bickering to interrupt her essay. Laura took another bite of a cookie and rode the sugar high through the next few paragraphs. Her mind started drifting off toward her video journalism project and away from eleventh century epic poetry when she heard a soft whimpering.

At first she wasn’t sure what to think of it. Weird sounds were usually just part of campus life at Silas, but it seemed a lot…closer. Laura slowly swiveled around in her chair and saw that the source of the whimpering was Carmilla.

In the light of the rising sun coming through the blinds, Laura could see that tears were starting to squeeze out from under Carmilla’s closed eyelashes. Her face was painted with broad strokes of pain and detailed in fear. Laura watched as Carmilla’s legs drew to her chest and fists clench, clutching the sheet over her body.

“Hey,” Laura softly called trying to wake Carmilla up from whatever nightmare she was in the midst of. She didn’t want to get too close because she didn’t know what kind of reaction she was going to get when Carmilla woke up.

However, when Carmilla didn’t wake up and Laura could start to see a thin sheen of sweat border Carmilla’s hairline, she knew she had to really wake her up. Laura pushed the floor with her feet and moved the computer chair over toward Carmilla’s bed.

“Carmilla,” Laura whispered loudly.

She saw Carmilla’s hand flex and then clench again. Her whimpering grew more panicked. Laura grew panicked as well, worried about what kind of dream hell Carmilla was in. She moved to her knees next to the bed, computer chair forgotten. Laura put one hand on top of Carmilla’s and the other on Carmilla’s head, softly stroking her hair. “Hey,” Laura talked a little louder, “It’s okay, Carmilla. It’s okay.”

 Carmilla’s eyes shot open and the tears poured out more freely. In her panicked state, she quickly sat up, knocking Laura’s hand off of her head. In the process, Carmilla’s foot bumped the wall and she looked back, saw the wall, and scooted away from it.

Carmilla was on her feet before Laura could say anything. Carmilla wrapped her arms around herself and walked to the windows. She wiped her eyes as she moved, not wanting to look like she was just crying in her sleep.

“Are you okay?” Laura asked, moving from her knees on the floor to sit on Carmilla’s bed.

Carmilla immediately nodded, “Yeah.”

Laura didn’t know what to say or if she could say anything. She just watched Carmilla. “Must have been a bad dream.”

“More like a flashback,” Carmilla sighed softly. She slowly walked over to Laura’s bed and sat down. She picked up Laura’s yellow pillow and held it in her arms, not really realizing what she was doing. She was just seeking out comfort where she could get it.

“The coffin?” Laura asked, barely audible even to the supernatural being across the room.

Carmilla looked at the ground and nodded. She rested her chin on top of the pillow. She still couldn’t shake the feeling of being trapped and continually having the thick liquid fill her lungs, but never being able to drown, even when she begged for it.

She leaned back, but when her back touched the wall, she jumped away from it like it burned her. Carmilla was on her feet with the yellow pillow in her arms.

Laura noticed that Carmilla was jumpy around the walls. She looked around for a moment before standing. Laura moved to the head of Carmilla’s bed and pushed it toward the middle of the room. She looked around figuring that that was all the space that she could give Carmilla at the moment.

Carmilla stood by the hallway door and looked at Laura. She knew what Laura was doing, she just couldn’t figure out why.

“Is…this okay?” Laura asked, placing her hand on the railing of Carmilla’s bed.

Carmilla let her bangs fall in her eyes a little before she answered. “Yes. Thank you.” Her voice was so small and frail that it worried Laura.

The blonde walked over to Carmilla and gently took one of her hands. Laura guided Carmilla to her bed and let Carmilla lay down on her own.

Laura pulled her bed a little closer to Carmilla’s and laid down on it, putting her hand on top of Carmilla’s. “I’ll be right here.”

Carmilla tried to get back the yellow pillow, but Laura shook her head, pushing it back to Carmilla. They laid there for a moment before Carmilla reached past Laura’s hand and grabbed the bottom of Laura’s bed. She easily pulled it flush with her own.

Laura smiled. She took Carmilla’s hand again and watched her close her eyes again, this time using her hand as a tether so that she could escape the coffin if she fell back in.

When she was sure Carmilla was asleep, Laura ran her thumb over Carmilla’s knuckles and then brought them to her lips. “Sweet dreams, Carmilla.”


	3. Laura and Carmilla are pretend wrestling and carmilla let's Laura win and gives carmilla her first hickey

“Carmilla, it’s not funny. Give it back,” Laura put her hands on her hips.

Carmilla used a high-pitched mocking voice to asked, “Are you going to miss your show?” She disappeared in a puff of black smoke and reappeared standing on Laura’s bed with the TV remote in her hand.

Laura turned around, “That’s not fair. C’mon Carmilla.”

Carmilla just waved the remote in the air.

Finally, Laura had had enough. She drove at Carmilla and tackled her on to the bed. Carmilla laughed and held the remote over her head. Laura kept trying to reach for it, but Carmilla would move it out of the way just before she reached it.

Laura’s thrashing sent them both tumbling onto the floor with Carmilla on top. Laura kept struggling and used all of the self-defense classes that her dad sent to, to flip Carmilla onto her back. Carmilla put the remote behind her back and laughed again. The situation was wildly amusing to her and for Laura it had become more than a fight over the remote. It became a pride thing.

Laura tried to force her hands behind Carmilla’s back so that she could get the remote. She got her hands on it, but was having a problem prying it out of Carmilla’s supernaturally strong hands.

Laura put her head on Carmilla’s shoulder to readjust her body weight without letting go of the remote behind Carmilla’s back and the floor. Her current course of action wasn’t working so she decided to employ a new tactic.

At first, Laura just nuzzled into Carmilla’s neck. She always smelled so good. Then she dropped a kiss on the curve of Carmilla’s neck. She felt Carmilla’s body go tense. She smiled, knowing that she was winning. Laura gently bit Carmilla’s neck which earned her a deep moan.

“Vampire likes to be bitten,” Laura mumbled against Carmilla’s pale skin. She ran her tongue over the area she bit before sucking on the skin. “Interesting.”

Carmilla let go of the remote and started to move her arms, but Laura caught her wrists, forgetting the remote. She held them behind Carmilla’s back as she went to work on Carmilla’s neck, kissing, biting, and sucking until she formed an impressive hickey and made sure to cover Carmilla’s neck in kisses.

When she was satisfied that Carmilla was marked and that she wouldn’t soon forget how their fight ended, Laura stopped. She let go of Carmilla, hopped off of her, and stood over her waving the remote, “I win.”

Carmilla blinked, still not part of the world around her. She slowly sat up. She saw Laura had taken residence on her bed, but brought over her yellow pillow. When Laura saw Carmilla looking at her, she smiled and opened her arms.

Carmilla rolled her eyes at herself and crawled up into the bed, falling softly into Laura’s arms. When they heard the opening sequence of Laura’s favorite TV show, Carmilla snuggled into the blonde and looked up at the TV.

She felt her neck and knew what had happened. “This is my first hickey.”

“It is?” Laura asked, looking at Carmilla, feeling all the more proud of herself.

Carmilla nodded.

“I can’t believe no one ever wanted to give you one,” Laura scooted over so that there was enough room for Carmilla. She kissed Carmilla’s forehead when she rested her head on her shoulder.

Carmilla sighed softly and decided that she didn’t like the show enough to watch it. She turned her back to the show so that her front was pressed against Laura. She closed her eyes and decided to get a nice nap out of it, “It’s not that no one ever wanted it. I just never let anyone get that close to me.”

Laura smiled lovingly at Carmilla even though Carmilla couldn’t see her. She gently rubbed up and down Carmilla’s back, knowing that she was going to sleep instead of watch. She turned her eyes to the screen, but her mind wasn’t on the show anymore. She felt ridiculously privileged that Carmilla let her get close. She was going to do everything in her power to stay there.


	4. Laura tries to do homework but she keeps getting distracted by Carmilla

“Alright, so that’s the update on that strange blinking light at the top of where the Dean’s House  _used_  to be,” Laura looked into the camera and checked her notes. “I guess that’s it for today.” She smiled, brightly, “On to my homework.”

She turned off the camera and posted the video online. Laura reached down next to her desk and picked up her backpack. The small book she was supposed to read for her lit class was easy to pick out of the well-organized space.

Laura decided that since she was settling in for a few hours of reading, her bed was the best place to do it. After stacking pillows, rearranging blankets, and made sure that her cookies were within arm’s reach, Laura got down to it.

The door opened half an hour later. Carmilla barged in, cursing. Or what Laura was sure was cursing in whatever other language Carmilla knew.

“Everything okay?” Laura asked, pushing up on her elbow to better see Carmilla.

“Great,” Carmilla replied, as usual, sarcastically, “I love getting cheap beer spilled on me by a drunken moron.” She ripped off her jacket and threw it into the corner of the room. Her boots came off next and then she peeled off her top.

“I-I thought you were going to the philosophy lounge,” Laura tried to make conversation and avert her eyes as more and more of Carmilla’s skin became visible.

“I was in the philosophy lounge,” Carmilla unzipped her pants and sat down on the bed to take them off, “Those drunken idiots thought it would be fun to have the toga part in the Socrates wing of the Philosophy building.” When her pants were off, she wadded them up and threw them to where her jacket was.

Carmilla stood up again and looked around the room. She pinched the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes, seemingly oblivious to the face that Laura’s eyes were racking up and down her lingerie clad body. Laura realized what she was doing and tried to get her focus back on the book.

Of course Carmilla wasn’t going to cooperate. She moved to the fridge where she bent over to extract her ‘soy milk’ and lingered a little longer, looking for something else.

Laura tried to force her eyes to look at her book in her hand, but just above the top of the book she could see Carmilla straighten up and drink straight from the carton. Laura decided to turn around and face the wall. Maybe she could get some actual reading done.

“I’m going to take a shower,” Carmilla announced.

Laura let out a sigh of relief. She could hear Carmilla’s bare feet pad across the floor and the almost inaudible crinckle of plastic as one of her cookies was stolen behind her back.

Laura got another chapter in before the door opened again and Carmilla walked back in. Laura wanted to make sure that Carmilla was dressed and found that Carmilla was not wearing more clothes than before. She was only wearing a towel.

“Oh boy,” Laura said under her breath and turned back toward the wall.

Carmilla heard Laura’s utterance, but was sure it was about the book she was reading. She went to the closet and pulled on a tank top and some shorts under her towel. Then she brushed out her wet hair and returned to the room. She grabbed one of her books off of the shelf and fell back on the bed.

Laura stretched her back that was starting to get sore from laying awkwardly, facing the wall. She figured it was safe enough to turn back around, since Carmilla was dressed. Laura found her eyes once again peeking over the top of her book.

However, this time she wasn’t looking at Carmilla’s body. She was watching Carmilla’s face. She watched the way Carmilla ran her teeth over the side of her bottom lip when she was concentrating. She watched the way Carmilla’s brow furrowed as she found something interesting. She watched the way Carmilla said, “stupid,” under her breath at the book and violently turned the page.

Carmilla changed positions on the bed so that she was on her back with the book over her face. She tucked one of her hands behind her head and continued to read.

Laura licked her lips and smiled to herself behind her book. Carmilla was just as sexy laying in bed, reading a book as she was walking around in lingerie.

Half an hour had passed and Laura had gotten no more reading done. She kept trying to pretend she was reading while stealthily watching Carmilla. Eventually, her eyes slid closed and she fell asleep with her book in her hand.

When Carmilla was done reading her book, she looked over at Laura. She poor girl was passed out, an open book in her hand that was resting next to her sleeping face.

Carmilla silently got out of her bed and moved toward her roommate’s bed. Carmilla gently took the book out of Laura’s hand and placed it on the desk. She could see that Laura was chilly, but she was laying on her blanket. Carmilla looked around the room and then took her own blanket off of her bed. She placed it over Laura, watching her sleep for a moment.

A small smile played on her lips as she stepped backwards toward her bed. She turned off the light and picked up another book to quietly watch over Laura as she slept in the middle of the mysterious and often dangerous Silas University.


	5. Laura tries to ask Carmilla on a date, but instead she keeps apologizing about the kidnapping and starvation.

Laura had been up and down all night. Something about the way that Carmilla said “see some friends” didn’t seem like she was going to see anyone who was going to be friendly at all and “see” sounded an awful lot like fight.

Laura sat on her bed and looked at Carmilla’s bed. The sheets were falling off and the blanket was a ball at the foot of the bed. Her own yellow pillow was on top of Carmilla’s other two.

She moved to her roommate’s bed and fell back on it, curling into her pillow that smelled just like Carmilla. Well, it smelled like Carmilla did before she spent nine days tied to a chair.  It smelled like ludicrously expensive perfume and chocolate. Laura frowned at the smell of chocolate. She sat up and stuck her hand under the pillow. She felt a smooth square and pulled it out. Laura looked it over and sigh, “My chocolate.”

Laura got up off of Carmilla’s bed and put it with the other food.

There was more waiting. Hours and hours of waiting. Laura was starting to get worried when she looked out the window and saw the sun starting to shoot rays over the horizon. She walked over to the chair that she had had Carmilla tied up in and sat down. There were still ropes hanging on the back of the chair so Laura leaned forward. She put her head in her hands and pushed her hair back. She looked at the door and the brightening window, “C’mon Carmilla. Where are you?”

Laura’s phone buzzed a few minutes later. She knocked over a pen holder trying to get to it immediaetly. She hoped that it was Camilla although she wasn’t sure Carmilla actually had her number. Laura stood in the middle of the room with her phone in her hand. She read the text that she got and dropped the phone on her bed, “Not now, Dad.”

She was started to get sick to her stomach when the door opened. Carmilla stumbled in, coughing and sputtering. She immediately went to the blinds and closed them completely before bending over with her hands on her knees.

“Carmilla?” Laura moved over to her roommate and touched her back, trying to ascertain what was wrong and if Carmilla was okay.

Carmilla stood up straight and nodded, brushing off Laura’s concern. She walked over to the refrigerators and got out her ‘soy milk’. “I’m fine.”

“Well, what happened?” Laura still stood close to Carmilla, “You’ve been gone for,” she looked at her watch, “Six hours and forty-two minutes.”

Carmilla drank straight from the carton. After she drained most of the contents, Carmilla replaced the carton and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “You stayed up all night.”

“Yeah,” Laura stepped around Carmilla to see if she was hurt, “Where you were going sounded dangerous. I was worried.”

“Worry no more cupcake,” Carmilla walked over to her bed and flopped down on it. “I’m fine.” She muttered into the yellow pillow, “And tired.”

Laura stood still, watching Carmilla just pretend like she didn’t disappear for hours at a time and reappear coughing and possibly smoking – literally smoking from her body.

She decided to just go with it. She was completely exhausted. Laura opened the armoire and got out an extra blanket. She put it over the window, completely blocking out all the lights and sending the room into almost complete darkness. She carefully moved to her bed and sat down on it. Being the person that she was, she still wanted to process what was happening. She licked her lips and and look across the room at Carmilla’s still form.

“Why are you staring at me?” Carmilla asked, not moving a muscle.

Laura swallowed, “Um, I was just…thinking about…I’m really sorry for tying you up and…starving you out.” She furrowed her brow in the dark of their room.

“The past is the past,” Carmilla lulled her head over to meet Laura’s eyes in the dark. She could see Laura clearly although she knew her face was probably obscured by the lack of light for Laura.

Laura looked down at the floor, “I should have talked to you. I just… you’re really pretty – not just pretty. Like hot. You’re really hot and hot girls don’t…they didn’t used to notice me.” Laura took a deep breath. “And I’m really sorry about holding you hostage. Everything just happened so fast and with the disappearances…”

“Take a breath, sugarplum,” Carmilla watched Laura’s eyes scan the dark floor. “It’s behind us.”

“Do you wanna…” Laura started, but sighed, interrupting herself. She clenched her jaw and looked toward Carmilla’s bed. She couldn’t see her in the dark, but she could feel that she was looking at Carmilla’s eyes, “Do you want to go out sometime? Tonight? For real. No tricks or traps. I can’t afford your taste in champagne, but there’s a park across campus that has a suspiciously high fence around it and no entrance. We wouldn’t go to the park, but there’s a nice fountain right next to it. I can bring chocolate.”

“You…still want to go out with me?” Carmilla asked softly, “Even now that you know who – what I am?”

“Yeah,” Laura let out a small smile, “I – I like you.”

Carmilla couldn’t stop a smile. She hadn’t felt that kind of joy that was radiating through her body in decades. “I guess I could clear my schedule.”

Laura smiled fully and laid down on her bed. She closed her eyes, but her smile stayed, “Great. Good morning Carmilla.”

Carmilla smiled, watching Laura drift off to sleep. “Good morning, Laura.”


	6. Chapter 6

It was like a whisper in her ear. It traveled from the heavens down through the dense soil, weaving between the grains of the wood of the coffin that had become her home. It rippled through the blood that completely surrounded her.

_How wonderful is Death,_

_Death, and his brother Sleep!_

She was sure that she had sunken into another state of hallucinations. It was hard to tell when she was dreaming or when she was seeing or hearing things that weren’t there. However, they were always welcome. When she closed her eyes, she was free.

_One, pale as yonder waning moon_

_With lips of lurid blue;_

A smile crossed her lips. She lay across a leaning branch of a tree, hanging over her own grave. She crossed her wrists on the rough bark and rested her cheek on top of them. The girl laying in the thick grass under her continued to stare at the book in her hands reading the words out loud with such grace and fluidity that it seemed the words were blown in on a breeze instead of uttered from her lips.

_The other, rosy as the morn_

_When throned on ocean’s wave_

The book her hands had a worn red cover, but the pages had been cared for meticulously. Her long white dress splayed across the grass, haphazard and asymmetrically. The intricate ruffles of the dress hid her delicate figure in a mass of transparent ocean waves swelling and ebbing down her body down to her bare feet. Her hair fell from the pins that held it above her neck. Her hair was that of a child who ran through the woods without a care, chasing butterflies and making friends with wild animals.  

_It blushes o’er the world;_

_Yet both so passing wonderful!_

In the tree, she watched the young blonde woman turn the page. She licked her lips and blinked slowly before she resumed entertaining the gravestones with the words of others who had come long before her.

This was not the first time she had been visited by the blonde girl with the red book. She always wore the same thing and read to the sky, never noticing the intruder in the tree.

When her eyes opened, she was back in her crimson tomb. The gentle words were replaced with rumbles that sent her knocking into the sides of her tiny home.

The light was unbearable when it shone down on her for the first time in decades. She could not stand to open her eyes, yet she knew that the air rushing down toward her was no longer stale and wrought with the wretched metallic smell of blood.

She opened her eyes slowly and only for a second saw the sky. It was dark and sprinkled with stars. The moon was a spotlight shining through the forest overhead. She shielded her eyes with her arm and opened them again. The sounds were becoming more distinctive. Gunfire. Explosions.

When she moved to sit up, the motion broke more of the splintered coffin, activating a landslide of dirt into the pool of her broken vault, splattering blood across her already blood coated face.

With the great care and trepidation of relearning to use legs that hadn’t walked since the last century, she climbed from her punishment until her hands reached the trampled grass of the surface. It took every ounce of power that she had to roll onto her back, finally free but unable to more another inch.

She could see the girl in the white gown. She had taken a place that had never belonged to her in the tree. She smiled down at the girl in the grass, speaking only in used words.

_Of old sat Freedom on the height,_

_The thunders breaking at her feet:_

_Above her shook the starry lights:_

_She heard the torrents meet._

Another explosion sounded nearby. This time it was joined by the shouts of men. The sounds all around her pulsed through her head, invading her thoughts. Her eyes moved back up to the blonde haired girl in the tree.

_There in her place she did rejoice,_

_Self-gather’d in her prophet-mind,_

_But fragments of her might voice_

_Came rolling in the wind_

“Elle,” crossed her lips, but the words were chased away in the wind. Her throat had gone without practice for so long. Her words came out in pieces, each being blown away in the wind like dry leaves.

In the grass she could feel the earth shake. Her eyes mapped her body which was still useless and pressed against the earth. When she looked up into the tree, she saw the girl with the red book. She smiled mischievously.

_Then stept she down thro’ town and field_

_To mingle with the human race,_

_And part by part to men reveal’d_

_The fullness of her face –_

“There’s someone over there!”

She could feel eyes on her that felt foreign. It felt wrong. She could feel the eyes roaming over her painted skin. More voices started to surround her. She felt fingers poke and prod at her trying to decipher if she was real.

They couldn’t take her away from her lady in the tree. It was so difficult to focus her eyes. She forced another sound from deep inside of her stomach, “Elle.”

The blonde seemed to find much amusement in the spectacle beneath her.

_Grave mother of majestic works,_

_From her isle-alter gazing down,_

_Who, God-like, grasps the triple forks,_

_And, King-like, wear the crown:_

Light took Elle’s place in her eyes. It blinded her and made her skin crawl. It felt so wrong. There was so much light surrounding her. It should have made her warm, but her body became chilled with the intrusion.

It was too bright. She tried to shield her eyes again, but found her body still too tired to move. She could feel her mind chasing her body to a state of weightlessness.

“Elle.”

_Her open eyes desire the truth._

_The wisdom of a thousand years_

_Is in them. May perpetual youth_

_Keep dry their light from tears;_

With another great effort, she opened her eyes against the light. She was surrounded by men all dressed alike. They were of little interest to her. Her eyes roamed past them, finding the leaning tree branch that hovered over her grave. It swayed a bit in the wind, but not under the pressure of the weight of a young woman. Her blonde in the white gown that breathed poetry into her ear was gone.

The men hoisted her to her feet. She was unsteady on them, almost losing her will to move away from the hell she had been encased in. Her voice made little noise against the rumbling of the ground around them, “Elle.”

_That her fair form may stand and shine_

_Make bright our days and light our dreams,_

_Turning to scorn with lips divine_

_The falsehood of extremes!_

As she was led off of the battlefield, the pages of an open red book fluttered in the wind behind her. Another shaking of the ground rattled the book to the edge of the hole she had crawled from. A second later, it slid on the loose dirt, making no sound as descended into the pocket of blood behind held deep below the earth.

Blood started to seep through the fibers of the paper as she was led away from the hell that was her punishment. She had lost her shackles, but she lost the voice in her ear. It was over and she had ended it as she begun, alone and afraid.  


	7. Shot To The Heart Part 1

It was like being punched in the stomach and the face at the same time. With a bag of bricks.

Carmilla found it hard to stand and her hand was trembling as she read the letter. It didn’t take her long to finish reading it. By the time she had finished there were tear tracks down her face. She crumpled the letter in her fist and angrily threw it across the small room.

Her hand covered her mouth as she walked the length of her bed. She took her. Mother took Laura. Carmilla sunk onto the bed. She had let her guard down. Things were actually going good. They were normal. She felt something between her and Laura. It was real and it was special. It wasn’t something that she expected, but it wasn’t something that she could ignore.

And now it had gotten Laura abducted. Carmilla dropped her head into her hands. She couldn’t get over the letter. Mother had taken Laura and then told Carmilla she was free. Carmilla could do as she please without repercussions. She could leave Silas forever. She didn’t have to be part of the con anymore. It wasn’t even bittersweet. It was just gut wrenching. Laura was the price for her freedom.

When Carmilla picked her head up and rested her chin against her palms, she saw that stupid yellow pillow on Laura’s bed. The thing that had brought her the most comfort in the world besides the person it belonged to.

She may be free, but Carmilla wasn’t going anywhere. The price was too high.

The secretary tried to stop her, but Carmilla walked right past her into the Dean’s office. She kicked the door down. Mother was on her feet in a second, ready for whatever was coming. However when she saw Carmilla she slowly lowered herself into her chair, “I know you were taught to enter a room more civilized than that.”

“Let her go,” Carmilla growled.

The Dean smirked, “You really think your temper tantrum is enough to get me to let her go.”

“No,” Carmilla clenched her fists. She hated that her voice she shaking with rage and terror, “But you’ll trade. You know that I’m more useful to you than she is. I can bring you hundreds of more girls just like her.”

The Dean tilted her head, “But I don’t need a hundred girls like her. Not this year. Maybe in twenty more years.”

“Then I’ll get you one more,” Carmilla was getting flustered. She needed Laura free and she needed her free yesterday, “It’s a fair trade.”

“But it isn’t a fair trade,” The Dean narrowed her eyes, “Your insolence has been bothersome.”

“I’ll make it up to you,” Carmilla took a step forward, “Just let her go.”

“You do know what happens if you stay,” The Dean leaned back in her chair and steepled her fingers in front of herself. “I can’t just let you have your rebellion and let you come back. It would set a bad precedence.”

The breath left Carmilla’s lungs. She knew exactly what the Dean was talking about. She reached behind herself and grabbed the back of a chair to keep standing. She gulped down air as quickly as she could, “And you’ll let Laura go?”

The Dean let out a huff, “Yes. You have my word.”

Carmilla nodded trying not to completely panic, “Then let’s do it.”

_Laura woke up in her dorm room. It took a moment to calm her racing heart. She looked around and saw everything was like she left it. Part of her wondered if it was all a dream. She remembered Will grabbing her and dragging her out the door. But nothing looked out of place. Nothing except the note on the computer._

_Laura quickly moved from the bed and yanked the note off of it. Long, elegant letters were scrawled over the clean sheet of paper._

Carmilla looked down at the hole that Will was all too happily digging. She looked around at the tall trees around her. They were a few miles from the Silas campus out in the middle of the woods that were rumored to be haunted. She made sure to take deep breaths and keep her hands at her side so Will wouldn’t see her trembling. It was so hard to breathe when it felt like the weight of every bad decision she’d ever made was resting on her chest.

**_Hey Cupcake,_ **

**_I have a plan. If you’re reading this it worked. I couldn’t leave without saying goodbye._ **

_Tears sprang to Laura’s eyes. She turned to look at Carmilla’s side of the room. Nothing seemed to be out of place. All of the books were stacked on the shelf. The blankets were in a mess on her bed._

_Laura’s eyes returned to the page in her hand._

**_First of all, none of this is your fault. Anything that may or may not happen was put into play long before you were born. Don’t for a second think that this was your fault. I did this and I’m going to fix it._ **

**_You showed me something that I haven’t had in decades. ~~Cupcake~~ Laura, you showed me that I was capable of things that weren’t terrible. You showed me that I actually still have the capacity to love when I thought it was long gone. You showed me that I don’t have to be a monster. _ **

Carmilla laid down on the hard wood that was situated in the soft earth. Will kicked the lid of the coffin shut without warning and called through it, “See you in twenty years.”

In the pitch dark, Carmilla’s entire body started to quake.When the earth started to pile on top of the coffin that she had chosen as her fate, Carmilla started clawing at the lid, trying desperately to get out. Her entire being was in a state of panic. She screamed with the knowledge that the tons of dirt that was now covering her was drowning out her screams.

**_So as my last heroic act, I’m going back to Mother. She’ll let you go. She’s smart. She knows I’m more valuable to her than a single beautiful girl._ **

**_It was a pleasure and an honor to know you. You will do great things. You will be a person that will be remembered. You’re bright. You’re headstrong. You’re courageous. You’re everything that the world needs._ **

**_I love you._ **

_Laura couldn’t hold back a sob. Tears were pouring out of her eyes as she read what were probably the last words that Carmilla would ever give her._

Carmilla could feel the coffin start to fill with a warm sticky liquid. The blood. Carmilla knew that soon her punishment would officially start and she would be alone in the dark for two decades before she was needed again.

Carmilla reached into her jacket and pulled out that stupid yellow pillowcase. She couldn’t see it in the dark, but as the blood rose, she knew she needed it as stupid as it sounded. She pressed the pillowcase to her nose and inhaled deeply. She could smell Laura. The smell brought back so many memories. Laura’s smile and her frustrated huffs. She could hear the soft clicks of the mouse on Laura’s computer and the creaks of the ancient bedframe as Laura shifted her in sleep. She could see Laura’s hair crossing her face as the moon shone through the window. She could see her bashful grin and her sharp eyes. She could see the wrinkles on Laura’s nose when she was angry. She could hear Laura’s laugh, carefree and with so much joy.

She could hear Laura saying her name.

With one last intake of memories, the blood completely filled the coffin taking away the smell of the pillowcase. Carmilla closed her eyes and held the now-stained pillowcase to her chest, trying to hold onto the smell of the pillowcase for just a second longer. 


	8. Chapter 8

“It’s weird,” Laura looked at LaFontaine with wide eyes, “It’s really weird right? She’s like three hundred years old. Three hundred and thirty-four. It’s weird. Right?”

LaFontaine chuckled and shook their head, “Who cares?” They leaned back and moved their arm around Perry who had fallen asleep clinging to LaFontaine’s waist.

“But it’s weird,” Laura tucked some hair behind her ear. She was less adamant than before. “I mean, she probably doesn’t even like me anyway. Out of all the people she’s met in her centuries I’m probably-”

“One of the only ones she’s protected completely,” LaFontaine ran their hand through their hair, “She’s pissed off her mother for exactly two people in her life. Elle was the love of her life. You don’t think she doesn’t see something she likes in you?”

 Laura smiled wistfully and looked down at the quilt they were sitting on, “You really think she…might like me?”

“I think risking her life to keep you alive at least three times should give you an idea,” LaFontaine quirked an eyebrow at Laura, “And seriously, you have to know that she has a thing for you.”

“She’s so worldly,” Laura dropped her head, “And she knows so much about…everything.” Laura’s voice grew quiet, “I have nothing to offer her.”

All amusement fell from LaFontaine’s face, “That’s not true. You’re smart, Laura, and you’re brave. You’re probably the bravest person I know.”

“That comes a lot coming from the bravest person I know,” Laura shyly replied.

LaFontaine smiled at the young woman in front of them, “You have a lot to offer, Carmilla and I’ve seen the way she looks at you. She knows it.”

Laura scraped her fingernail against the surface of another fingernail, “Thanks, LaF.” She lifted her head, “I’m sorry. I’m having a crush crisis when you just came back from being abducted.”

“I feel fine,” LaFontaine shrugged. “And I’m glad you came here to have your crush crisis.” They gently stroked Perry’s hair and let out a content sigh, “It feels normal.” LaFontaine pushed against Laura’s leg with their foot, “You can keep telling me how you love it when she leans close to you and touches your arm.”

“Uuuugh,” Laura smiled brightly and leaned on the wall next to the bed, “Is it that obvious?”

LaFontaine laughed, “Only to people within a mile radius of you.”


	9. HER NAME WAS LOLA - A COPACABANA INSPIRED LAFERRY FIC

Her name was Lola. She was a showgirl. Well, she wasn’t so much as a showgirl as a lounge singer. And she was really only a lounge singer Monday through Thursday from eight forty-five to nine twenty-five in the only campus sanctions bar, the Bronze Library. It was the hottest spot north of the Summer Society Annex. And south of the Zeta house.

No one really noticed that Don Perry was Lola the singer. Mostly freshmen lived in her dorm and they weren’t old enough to get into the bar. She enjoyed this duality that she only shared with one person. She would sing jazz ballads and tender love songs while LaFontaine tended bar.

It wasn’t a crowded bar. It was more of place where overworked business students came to drink by themselves and philosophy students came to discuss their thoughts over cheap scotch. Most night twenty or thirty students and faculty came in to take in the campus music and drink away their classes.

As Perry started her second song, she looked over at the bar and saw LaFontaine looking back at her. They shared a brief, teasing smile before Perry focused her attention on her audience.

His name was Will. He wore a v-neck. There was an air of arrogance about him as he walked in. He slowly moved to the table closest to the stage and sat down. His stare set firmly on Perry who got through the rest of her song. She licked her lips and put her hand on the microphone, “This, uh, this next one is a – a classic…”

“Can you sing Bye, Bye Birdie?” Will spoke up so that Perry could hear him. He glanced over his shoulder at LaFontaine who was staring daggers at his back. “I think it’s appropriate you know? For…this time of the year.”

The piano player started the song before Perry could answer Will. She had no choice, but to sing along.

Behind the bar LaFontaine took their phone out and texted  _911 Will in Bronze Library. Looking at P._  to three other recipients. Then they turned their eyes up to Perry who was nervously singing along and shooting terrified looks their way.

LaFontaine looked around for something to fight with. If Will was going to try to take Perry it was going to be over their dead body.

Will looked at the clock and when Perry looked at him, he pointed to it. Her time was almost up. She tried to extend the song for as long as possible, but eventually the pianist gave up and stopped playing.

“Th-thank you,” Perry was hesitant to step down from the stage. The second her foot hit the bar floor, Will stood up and LaFontaine sailed across the bar.

Everything descended into chaos rather quickly. After LaFontaine hit Will with a barstool, the other students in the bar joined in, just happy that something was breaking up their monotonous, stress filled day.

“LaFontaine!” Perry screamed as LaFontaine pushed to their feet trying to figure out when they got hit. They saw Perry being pulled into the crowd by Will. They quickly grabbed the nearest wooden thing and ran after Perry.

LaFontaine cracked a pool cue over the back of Will’s head and went to stab him with it when he threw Perry aside and roared demonically. He whirl around, picking up a table to hit LaFontaine with.

As he pushed the table over his head to bring it down, an arrow sunk itself into his shoulder. He growled and threw the table aside, looking for the sender of the arrow.

“Come and get me Skinny Jeans,” Danny stood on a table and called over the melee with her bow in her hand and a quiver of arrows strapped across her back.

Will planned to do just that. He jumped into the air, flying over the heads of the brawlers on the floor, aimed right at Danny. She reached back to draw another arrow, but was fumbling because of how fast Will was approaching.

Will smiled, knowing that there was no way for her to shoot him again before –

Will was knocked out of the air by an equally strong blur of leather and eyeliner. He flew into the far wall of the bar smashing a Will sized dent into the drywall. He looked across the bar and saw Carmilla smirking at him through the crowd, “Miss me, Willy Boy?”

“Oh Mother is going to be happy to see you,” Will hopped out of the hole in the wall and stood on a table. “If you thought the blood coffin was bad -”

A pool ball flew out of the crowd and hit Will in the head. Laura snickered to herself as her short height hid her in the masses. She started trying to get people out after throwing the ball. Carmilla was right. There was great satisfaction in small victories.

Will could tell that he was outnumbered. Now that the humans had Carmilla on their side there was no way for him to defeat them all. He looked around and spotted the curly haired woman he came in for. He was not going to disappoint mother again.

“Are you okay?” Perry asked LaFontaine who was bleeding from a cut over her eyes.

LaFontaine shook their head. “I’m fine. Let’s get out of here.” They stood up and pulled Perry up, looking around at the almost empty bar. Laura was standing at the door gesturing for them to hurry.

“Going somewhere?” Will grabbed Perry’s arm and jerked her to him. Perry whimpered in the pain his vampire strength applied to her arm.

LaFontaine readjusted the hold on the cue in their hand. They kicked their foot out, nailing Will in the kneecap. Vampire or not, that hurt. “You sonofa-”

Will stopped suddenly. He looked down and found a broken pool cue lodged in his chest. A second later, he disintegrated into dust.

“Huh,” Carmilla walked over to LaFontaine and Perry who was staring at astonishment at the pile of dust under a red v-neck, “So it does work like that.”

Danny walked over and picked up the broken pool cue that was on top of the shirt. She twirled it through her fingers, “You two okay?”

LaFontaine looked to Perry who had just regained movement. She threw her arms around LaFontaine and LaFontaine smiled over her shoulder, “Yeah. I think we’re okay.”

Her name was Lola. She was a lounge singer. But that was thirty minutes ago and she needed a break from that.

Perry was now behind the bar putting ice into towel. She pressed it to LaFontaine’s forehead.

“Thanks,” LaFontaine sighed tiredly. They looked Perry up and down, “Are you okay? Did you get hurt?”

Perry smiled softly, “No. I’m fine.” She swayed a little from side to side, “You saved me.”

“I-” LaFontaine ducked their head and blushed, “It wasn’t-”

Perry kissed LaFontaine before they could add anything else. It was short and sweet, but meant so much. LaFontaine’s eyes were still closed when Perry pulled slowly away.

The moment was broken by Laura asking, “What are you doing with those ashes?”

Carmilla walked toward the door with a dustpan and a red shirt in her hands, “I’m going to go throw them in Mommy Dearest’s office.”

“Are you crazy?” Danny and Laura asked together following Carmilla out.

Perry and LaFontaine laughed at their friends.

“Should we…” LaFontaine vaguely gestured to the door of the empty and trashed bar.

Perry shook her head. She got out a bottle of beer, popped the cap on the bar, and then took a sip. She hopped up on the bar and pulled LaFontaine to her, holding onto the lapels of LaFontaine’s plaid shirt put pull them into a kiss. A sly grin from LaFontaine broke the kiss.

Perry giggled and pressed her forehead to LaFontaine’s, “I think we should stay here.”

LaFontaine put the ice towel to the side and nodded, “Sounds like a good idea.”


	10. Chapter 10

It had been raining for days. The sky had been hiding behind dense clouds and the sun, moon, and stars had been gone for more than a week.

Carmilla sighed softly as she looked out the window toward the night sky. It was still completely overcast and she couldn’t even see the light from the moon.

“Are you okay?” Laura solemnly swiveled her computer chair to face Carmilla. Her roommate had been looking out the window for thirty minutes and had been sighing about every two minutes.

“I just,” Carmilla paused and pushed away from the window, “I miss the stars.” She grabbed a leather jacket. “I’m out of soy milk.”

“Can you get some chocolate too?” Laura asked.

Carmilla nodded silently and walked out the door.

Laura turned back at her computer and looked at the blank screen. There was usually more fight than that. Carmilla would say something snarky and bring back a half-eaten chocolate bar.

Laura wanted to make Carmilla feel better. She knew that Carmilla loved the stars, but she didn’t know how much until Carmilla had been deprived for days.  Laura got an idea.

She woke up her computer and went to work.

Carmilla shuffled through the dorm hallway. She started speaking the second she opened the door, “I got the caramel kind too because you said that you liked….it.” Carmilla stopped cold in the doorway. “What’s going on?”

Laura looked up from tacking a white sheet to the wall. Carmilla’s mattress was on the floor between their bedframes and there were white sheets hung from the center of the ceiling, stretched to the walls making a white dome.

Laura grinned, “Hold on. I didn’t think you’d be back so soon.” She ducked under the sheets and reached up onto her desk. “Turn off the lights.”

Carmilla closed the door behind her and turned the lights off. It was pitch dark for a second before a switch clicked and stars dotted the sheets that hung over the room.

“I borrowed this from the astronomy department,” Laura’s face was sprinkled with stars as she moved the small portable star projector to the floor. She set it at the foot of Carmilla’s mattress.

Carmilla took a moment to take everything in. Laura had moved to sit on the mattress. When their eyes met, Laura patted the mattress next to her.

A smile spread across the vampire’s face. She set the chocolate on Laura’s bed and laid down on her mattress on the floor. She even found that Laura had put her yellow pillow on the mattress as well. Carmilla rested her head on the pillow and looked up at the ceiling. It wasn’t the same as being outside, but it was close enough and a beautiful gesture.

“This is really nice, cupcake,” Carmilla tugged on the back of Laura’s shirt.

Laura moved with the pull and laid down next to Carmilla. “You’ve been really sad for the last few days. And not your usual brooding so I wanted to…help.”

Carmilla turned her head to the side and saw Laura looking at her as well. Carmilla slowly rotated her torso so that she could drop a small, innocent kiss on Laura’s lips. “Thank you.”

Laura beamed. “If I knew that this is what it took to get you to kiss me, I would have gotten the Alchemy Department to figure out how to make it overcast for a week a long time ago.”

Carmilla chuckled, “Or you could have kissed me.”

Laura was quiet for a moment. They both looked up at the stars projected on the sheets above. Then the freshman turned on her side completely facing Carmilla. She quietly called, “Carmilla?”

When the vampire turned her head, she was blindsided with a kiss. But it only took a moment for her to turn on her side as well, her hands finding their way to Laura’s waist.

Laura was the one to pull away from the intense kiss she initiated. She bit her lip over a pleased smile, “You’re right. I should have done that a long time ago.”


	11. Shot To The Heart Part 2

Laura was never one to sit on her hands. She didn’t accept the bad things as they were. She always changed them. That is how she ended up standing in front of Will who was tied to a field hockey goal in the dusty basement of the biology building.

Kirsch rubbed his jaw where Will had hit him, “Not cool, dude. I thought we were bros.”

Will ignored Kirsch. He focused on who seemed to be the ringleader of the misfit group of vampire captors. “You know I can get out of this. Carmilla was just being nice because she liked you or whatever.” Will flexed, trying to get out. His eyes widened when he realized he couldn’t actually get out.

“We tied you up the way to best take advantage of what are statistically the weakest muscles in the body,” LaFontaine explained, their eyes bouncing from person to person in their small squad, “Then we used chains and extra rope.”

Laura took a step closer to Will, “Where’s Carmilla?”

Will chuckled, “I should have known.” He tilted his head, seemingly annoyed, “I don’t get it though. I don’t know what any of you see in her. Everywhere we go she had groupies. I bet she made you feel special didn’t she? She told you about Elle and you thought that maybe you could help her get over Elle. You could help her forgive herself for being the monster she’s been for centuries.” Will grinned menacingly when he saw how well he was rattling Laura. “You’re just a drop in the ocean, kid. She’ll-”

A loud metallic clank filled the room and stopped Will’s verbal attack. Danny put the wooden bat back over her shoulder after hitting the metal goal with it. Danny growled, “Answer the question.”

“Where is Carmilla?” Laura repeated the question, “We just want to talk to her.”

“You can’t talk to her where she is,” Will rested his head back on the crossbar.

Perry removed her hands from her ears, “Maybe we should wait a few days. Starve him a little bit.”

Will laughed, “You’ll just have to starve me to death. Carmilla is Mother’s favorite and she’s going to be in that coffin for twenty years. Imagine what she’ll do to someone she doesn’t really like.”

“She’s in a coffin?” Laura stepped closer. She knew what that meant for Carmilla. She had seen Carmilla in the throes of nightmares. She had seen Carmilla scramble to the window so that she could look outside and see the stars just to make sure she wasn’t still in that claustrophobic prison. She couldn’t imagine the kind of terror that was controlled Carmilla’s body at that very moment. “Where is she?”

Will panicked briefly after he realized what he had said. He swallowed and tried to play it off, “You’ll never find her in time. And soon Mother will realize that I’m missing. She’ll know it was you. You’ll all be dead before you find her.”

Laura threw a nervous look at LaFontaine. She knew that they had to do something to get the information from Will. She also knew that starving him out wasn’t an option because it would take days and Will had already said he would die before he told her gave up all the information. She had no doubt he was more scared of the Dean than he was of starving to death.

Laura turned to Danny who seemed to be waiting for her instruction. Laura swallowed. She wasn’t ready for this kind of decision. She needed the information, but she wasn’t sure that she was the kind of person who could torture anyone.

Kirsch shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “What if we…take him to his mom and tell her that he told us already?”

“What?” Will yanked against his restraints. “You can’t do that.”

“We can and we will,” Danny placed the end of her bat on his chest, “Unless you tell us exactly where she is.”

Will looked from Danny to Laura to Kirsch and back to Laura, “As soon as I tell you, you have to let me go so I can run before Mother knows.”

Laura shook her head, “As soon as we find her we’ll let you go.”

“Then I’m taking my chances with Mother,” Will took a deep breath, “Or shove that bat through my heart because either way, I’m dead.”

“Fine,” Danny dropped the bat from Will’s chest and carried it with her out the door.

“Danny,” Laura trotted after her.

LaFontaine, Perry, and Kirsch followed them out the door.

“Danny,” Laura stopped Danny at the door to the stairwell, “Please don’t go.”

Danny opened the door and then closed it. Then she turned to the group. She whispered, “We’re not going. We’re just making him thing we’re going.” She pressed her finger to her lips.

Everyone was quiet for ten seconds before they heard yelling, “Wait! Wait! I’ll tell you!”

Laura smiled at Danny, “Genius.”

“Yeah well,” Danny grinned and shrugged. She gestured in the direction of the closet they were keeping Will in, “Go negotiate.”

Laura walked toward the room where Will was. When she stepped in, she looked expectantly at him, “What was that?”

“I’ll tell you. Hell, I’ll take you to her,” Will desperately pleaded, “You just have to give me a head start before Mother finds out.”

Laura looked behind her at the group waiting for the deal. She nodded to them. “Let’s go.”

Will tried to run off only once on the way. The garlic that had weakened him enough that when LaFontaine activated the brake that she put on the football sled with an extra five hundred pounds they attached to his shoulders, he couldn’t go anywhere.

Danny, Laura, and Kirsch were carrying shovels and flashlights while LaFontaine was carrying Danny’s wooden bat and Perry was holding the handle of a broken hockey stick with a splintered end.

Will looked around, “It’s around here somewhere.” He shook his head, “It looks different in the dark.”

“Imagine how different it looks inside a blood coffin,” Laura quipped as she walked next to Will.

Danny looked around, “We’re about a mile from campus.” She had brought a compass with them just to be sure that Will wasn’t going to lead them in circles until he found a way to escape. “I say we give him ten more minutes then we give him up.”

“It’s around here somewhere,” Will raised his voice, “Just give me a minute.” He looked around and started walking, dragging along the football sled behind him. Then he paused. He knelt down and touched the ground. He stood up and then pointed, “Over there.”

Laura walked past him and pointed her flashlight at the ground looking for a freshly dug grave. She looked behind her and pointed her flashlight at Will. She only had a second to call to Danny and warn her. She blocked Will’s punch with the shovel and hit him across the face with it.

Will grabbed Kirsch’s shovel and used it to break the chain holding him to the football sled. Then like a flash of light, he was gone.

“No,” Laura felt all hope leave her body as she leaves settled where Will had just been. Tears invaded her eyes. “You stupid vampire.” She kicked at the leaves under her feet. “Damn it!”

“Hey,” LaFontaine approached Laura cautiously, “We could still be close.”

“Or we could be on the completely wrong side of the world,” Laura sighed and wiped her eyes.

Kirsch shone his flashlight around and said, “I bet she’s around here somewhere.”

“Will was never going to help us,” Laura shook her head. “It was stupid idea. I’m sorry.”

“Shhh,” Danny hissed.

“What?” LaFontaine asked.

Danny glared at them, “Shut up and listen.”

Everyone fell silent, but no one could hear anything. Danny cocked her head and pointed, “Over there.”

All the flashlights pointed toward a dense patch of trees that shot up into the sky. It was difficult to see where they were, but Laura caught a glimpse of a patch of dirt that looked like it had moved recently.

“Carmilla,” she breathed out, then took off in a dead spring toward the mound of dirt. The rest of the group ran after her, Danny being the closest behind her when she dug her shovel into the dirt.

LaFontaine and Kirsch grabbed rocks and sticks to help dig with. Perry held a flashlight in each hand trying to illuminate the site as much as possible.

“What did you hear?” Kirsch asked Danny as they dug.

Danny swallowed, “I heard screaming.” She dug as hard as she could. She may have been the only one her heard it, but she wouldn’t soon forget what it sounded like. It made her whole body become instantaneously alert. She glanced up at the half moon as they dug themselves deeper into the earth.

LaFontaine started making a ramp so that when they were done digging they’d be able to get out. Laura wouldn’t see anything but the dirt. She couldn’t hear anything, but the sound of her shovel in the ground. She couldn’t smell anything but the wet soil. She couldn’t feel her muscles being pushed to their limits as she tossed more dirt out of the hole. Everything was about moving the dirt that was between her and Carmilla.

No one could tell exactly how long they’d been digging, but blisters started to form on hands and backs started to scream for reprieve.

Laura wasn’t deterred in the least. She kept digging, more determined with each dig into the dirt.

“Maybe she’s not down here,” Kirsch looked up at Perry who was standing five feet above them, looking down.

“She has to be,” Laura kept her head down.

Danny was matching her shovel full of dirt for shovel full of dirt. Danny agreed, “She’s down here.”

A few more strokes of the shovel and they all started to hear the screaming. The digging became more frantic and the smell of blood more pungent. “Carmilla!” Laura called toward the center of the Earth, “We’re coming!”

However it seemed that Carmilla no longer had to wait to be rescued. A bloody hand punched its way through the coffin and the remaining dirt. It retreated for a moment before the bottom of the hole that Kirsch was standing on seemed to explode, sending him scrambling up the ramp.

It was dark and the flashlights in Perry’s hands were dropped into the dirt as she moved to help Kirsch. In the dim light of the moon, Laura watched Carmilla fly out of the coffin and land on her feet in the middle of a blood pool littered with splintered wood and dirt.

Carmilla’s hair was drenched in blood and matted to her head. The blood dripped from her skin in tiny rivers and tributaries. Even in the moonlight Laura could tell that the Carmilla in front of her was not the one that she knew.

Before she could open her mouth to say anything, Carmilla lunged at her, a hand wrapping around her throat. Laura felt her feet leave the ground and found it impossible to breathe. She looked down at Carmilla and found glowing yellow eyes that weren’t familiar. They were carnal. They were angry and they were terrified.

Danny swung her shovel like a baseball bat and hit Carmilla across the back of the head with it. Carmilla immediately dropped Laura and jumped out of the deep hole in one leap.

“Carmilla!” Laura called and ran up the ramp to follow her.

Danny easily climbed out of the hole without the use of the ramp and ran after Carmilla as well. They didn’t have to run far because Carmilla had stopped cold in the middle of a clearing. She was looking up at the stars.

Danny stopped her pursuit knowing that she was not the one that Carmilla would want to speak to first. She watched Laura slowly make her way toward the vampire while keeping a shovel handy.

Laura wasn’t sure what to do or what to say. She wondered if there was really any way to know if her Carmilla was in there. She wondered if the Dead threw some kind of voodoo over Carmilla or if it was all just a part of the traumatic experience of being in the blood coffin again.

“Carmilla?” Laura quietly called when she got within a few feet of her.

Carmilla didn’t move. She was looking at the stars still.

Laura took another step closer and looked over Carmilla’s face. The moon lit up her face and Laura could see that the blood drying on Carmilla’s face was becoming diluted by tears. They poured down her face without any other indication of emotion on Carmilla’s face.

Laura stood next to Carmilla for a moment just looking at her. Laura pulled her sleeve down over her hand and moved her hand toward Carmilla’s face. Carmilla flinched away and took a step away from Laura. Then she wrapped her arms around herself and mumbled an apology. She took a half-step back toward Laura.

Laura gently wiped the blood and the tears from under Carmilla’s eyes and off of her cheeks and chin. “Are you okay?”

Carmilla swallowed and blinked slowly. She looked away from Laura and back up at the stars.

At first she was confused, but after a second Laura figured that suffering the kind of trauma that Carmilla had meant that maybe she wouldn’t be the same for a while. Laura looked over Carmilla’s face and tried to decipher what was going on in her head.

After a few minutes of complete silence, Laura left Carmilla in the clearing to go talk to the group.

“Has she said _anything_?” LaFontaine asked, although they knew the answer.

Laura shook her head. Carmilla was just standing in the middle of the clearing, staring at the sky. And breathing. At least she was breathing.

“We can’t take her back to campus,” Danny leaned on a tree and kept her eyes on Carmilla over Laura’s shoulder. She just needed to know where Carmilla was at all times just in case she decided to attack her rescuers again.

“I don’t-” Laura stopped her sentence and looked behind her, “I don’t think she would even go inside a building. I mean any place confining or, you know, full of blood.”

“Poor girl,” Perry took a step closer to LaFontaine. She took their hand and rested her mouth on LaFontaine’s shoulder, but kept her eyes on Carmilla.

“Maybe we could camp out here tonight,” LaFontaine gripped Perry’s hand more firmly, “Keep watch.”

Danny looked over at Kirsch, “Stay here while I go get a tent?”

Kirsch nodded firmly. He didn’t say anything. When Danny stepped toward Laura, he just crossed his arms moved to Danny’s post against the tree.

“I’m going to go grab some sleeping bags and some tents,” Danny told Laura.

“Be careful,” Laura touched Danny’s arm, “The Dean might be looking for us.”

“There’s a back entrance to the Summer Society building,” Danny assured Laura. She put her hand on top of Laura’s, “I’ll be fine. Keep a look out here and…Laura, be careful. She’s…”

Laura just nodded. She looked down at the ground. “I know.”

No one had really moved when Danny came back with the camping gear. She packed an entire hiking backpack, two tents, a few bedrolls, and various other camping supplies. There was also a bow and quiver over her shoulder. Danny and Perry set up their camp while Laura tried again with Carmilla and LaFontaine and Kirsch tried to cover up the six foot hole in the ground the led to a blood coffin.

“So we decided to camp out here tonight,” Laura told Carmilla who had sat down on the ground since the last time Laura tried to talk to her. Her eyes were downcast at the grass under her.

“I’m gonna, um,” Laura started. She unscrew the cap on a large water bottle Danny brought, “I’m gonna rinse you off okay? As well as I can.”

Carmilla didn’t say anything. She didn’t even blink.

Laura gently picked up Carmilla’s hand and poured water over it. She carefully watched Carmilla’s face for any kind of change as she rinsed off the dried blood. She put the water bottle down and used a bandana to wipe away the remnants of Carmilla’s punishment.

Kirsch carried a log over toward the fire that Danny started. “The hole is mostly filled.”

“Good,” Danny looked over the flames at Carmilla and Laura. Laura was using her bandana to clean Carmilla as best she could. Carmilla wasn’t moving at all. She turned to Kirsch who put the log down next to the fire and sat on it.

He rubbed his hands together and put them in front of the fire. Danny could see that his hands were blistered from all the digging he had done. She reached into her hiking backpack and took out an energy bar. After a beat, she offered it to him, “Thanks for helping.”

Kirsch accepted the bar and looked at the packaging, “I feel bad you know? Little- Laura tried to warn me about Will.”

Danny sat down next to Kirsch and grabbed a water bottle. She cracked it open and took a long sip. “They’ve been playing this game for centuries. They’re good at fooling people.”

“Yeah, but… I thought I knew him. I thought we were bros,” Kirsch hung his head as he opened his energy bar, “My grades aren’t so great and weird stuff happens around here, but I thought it would be okay because I had the Zetas.” He sighed, “Now I-I don’t know. The weird stuff is worse than I thought and my best….my Zeta brother is the bad guy.”

Danny looked up at the moon and carefully traced its outline with her eyes. “Well you may have lost a Zeta brother, but you’ve got a Summer Psycho on your side.”

Kirsch looked up at the moon with Danny, “It seems stupid now huh?”

“Yeah,” Danny agreed.

Kirsch paused then added, “The moon’s pretty. I like half-moons.”

“It’s called a first quarter moon,” Danny looked away from the moon and took a drink of her water. “There will be a full moon in a week.”

“You know a lot about the moon,” Kirsch turned to Danny and took a bite of his energy bar.

Danny busied herself with digging around in her backpack, trying to feign disinterest, “It’s-it’s not a big deal. It’s just good to know when there’s a full moon because…crime spikes.” She turned away from Kirsch and rolled her eyes at herself for the lame excuse.

“Right,” Kirsch nodded, like Danny was making a really great point. “My sociology professor said that once.”

LaFontaine and Perry emerged from one of the tents and moved to the fire. “All the beds are rolled out.” LaFontaine scratched their nose. They looked out over the clearing and saw Laura silently wiping the blood from Carmilla who still looked like a limp ragdoll with no ability to really focus on anything.

Danny dug around in her backpack and pulled out a zip up hoodie and rolled up pants. She offered them to LaFontaine, “I brought this for Carmilla.”

LaFontaine took the clothes and looked them over. Their eyes flickered to Danny who they knew was probably having a lot of conflicting emotions about being there. LaFontaine nodded. “Okay.” They put a hand on Danny’s shoulder before walking out to the clearing.

Laura looked up seeing movement to her left. LaFontaine didn’t say anything. They just handed the clothes to Laura. “Thanks,” Laura took them and set them in a patch of dry grass behind herself.

LaFontaine wanted to ask if Laura needed anything, but her attention had been turned back to Carmilla. LaFontaine knew what Laura needed. She needed Carmilla to be okay. She needed the Carmilla from before to come back to them.

When they got back to the camp that was set up a few meters away, LaFontaine put their hands in their pockets, stopping on the other side of the fire from Danny and Kirsch, “I wish we could do something.”

“This was a…traumatic event for Carmilla,” Perry spoke up at the mouth of one of the tents, “Especially after what she had been through before. I think she needs a little time right now.”

“Do we have time?” Kirsch looked over his shoulder at Perry. He looked to LaFontaine and then Danny. No one seemed to know what happened next or even when it might happen.

Laura had managed to get Carmilla into a laying position on the grass. Carmilla’s vacant eyes now twinkled with all the stars in the sky while Laura rinsed the blood out of Carmilla’s hair.

“I don’t know what it’s like in there,” Laura doing the only thing she could think of. She was just going to talk to Carmilla until she talked back, “It must have been awful. Especially a second time. But, um, I’m here now. I know it’s not much, but I’m here.”

Laura managed to discreetly change Carmilla’s clothes. She pulled the hood over Carmilla’s damp hair and zipped up the Summer Society Adonis Hunt ’13 Winner hoodie all the way up. The pants were too long so Laura rolled them up to Carmilla’s ankles.

“So, all clean,” Laura closed the water bottle and tossed the bloody bandana onto the pile of Carmilla’s clothes. Laura crossed her legs and sighed heavily. She looked out to the woods around them and then looked back at the fire where her friends were sitting. Her eyes met Danny’s and she wished that she had half of what confidence that Danny seemed to usually have. Laura dropped her head and tried to regroup. She needed to hold it together although she felt completely defeated even though Carmilla was sitting right next to her.

Danny got up from the fire and walked over to the clearing. Laura was the only one that looked up as she drew close.

Danny jerked her head over toward the camp, “Why don’t you go get warm and get something to eat? I’ll stay out here with her.”

Laura looked from Carmilla to Danny. She knew that Danny wasn’t vindictive in any way, but she was reluctant to leave Carmilla although it seemed that nothing she was doing was helping.

“Just for a minute,” Laura stood up.

Danny shrugged off her jacket and put it on Laura’s shoulders as she walked off. When Laura turned around to thank Danny she saw that Danny was already sitting down next to Carmilla.

When Laura was gone, Danny started talking, “You know I’m kind of jealous of you because I have this whole idea in my head that you knew Jane Austen and the Bronte sisters. Or maybe Mary Shelley.” She looked over Carmilla who was still completely unresponsive. Danny pulled her knees to her chest. “So I’m sure you’ve been to enough college classes to know that the first few weeks of class is kind of to see what the students can do. Beowulf was required reading the first week of class.” Danny paused with a smile and then glanced over at the campfire where Laura was sitting down in her spot, cuddling up to LaFontaine to get warm, “Laure wrote her entire first paper in epic poem form.”

Danny just let her sentence hang up in the air and smiled about the first few weeks that they knew each other. From the first day when Laura dropped her color coded self-annotated version of Beowulf and Danny scooped it up, earning the phrase, “my hero,” from Laura, Danny always wanted to be her hero. She wanted to see her smile and she wanted to see her be safe, one of which Laura was always refusing to do.

Danny looked back at Laura and saw her eyes were focused firmly on Carmilla who was staring blankly at the sky. After beat, Laura looked at Danny. She gave Danny a small appreciative smile before Kirsch stole her attention by offering her an energy bar.

“We’re really different, you and me,” Danny plucked a blade of grass and began peeling it apart in her hands, “Like complete opposites. The first time we met, you smelled different. Like a cat, but…different. Don’t ask me about my weird smell thing. Just because some people can be upfront about their…special abilities, doesn’t mean that I’m ready.” Danny looked at Carmilla, “Especially because I’ve read about this kind of shock before. You can hear everything and you’ll remember it. Your body and your brain just need some time to level again. I get it.”

Danny laid down in the grass and looked at the stars, trying to keep from looking directly at the moon, “My re-centering will happen in about a week so I’m hoping this whole thing is over by then.” Danny looked at Carmilla, “You’re nicer to me when you can’t talk.”

Carmilla lulled her head over to the side and looked at Danny. For a second Danny could see the old Carmilla. She could see a snide comment behind her brown eyes. Then Carmilla’s eyes turned back to the sky and she was gone again.

Laura was already on her way over when Danny sat up to call her. Laura offered Danny’s jacket back to her, but Danny refused to take it back. Danny stood, “I saw a flicker of her in there. She’ll come back. She just needs the right person to come back to.”

Laura looked down at the ground knowing that this had to be completely heartbreaking for Danny. She kicked at the ground, “I know that this is…less than ideal-”

Danny touched Laura’s shoulder, “I’m a big girl. I can handle a little disappointment. There’s more at stake here than ever before. We’ll figure all this out and then I’ll go bury myself in a pint of coconut milk ice cream.” She kissed the crown of Laura’s head and then walked off toward the camp.

Laura took Danny’s place in the grass with Carmilla. After looking at the stars for a while Laura moved closer to Carmilla and took her hand, hoping that some kind of physical contact would bring her back faster.

It was hours later before the fire was dying out. Danny knew that she should add more wood to it, but it she was the only one left awake. Her arms were crossed to keep herself warm, but there was a bow in her hand just in case of a sudden invasion. She could see Laura curled into Carmilla in the middle of the clearing. She had talked to Carmilla for about an hour before she fell asleep.

Danny kicked a stick that was sticking out of the fire back into it and then leaned back on the log Kirsch had brought for them to sit on. He was asleep in one of the tents and LaFontaine and Perry were asleep in the other one. Danny looked up at the moon and flexed her jaw. The love-hate relationship she had with the moon was-

There was a sting on her neck. It felt like a bee sting, but when she reached up to touch it she found a small blue dart. She immediately threw it down and stood up, drawing an arrow. She let it fly in the direction of twigs breaking. She sent another two at some shadows in the woods as her vision got blurry. She trued to open her mouth to call out for help to the others, but nothing came out. She drew a last arrow, but couldn't let it strike before she collapsed.


End file.
